Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Football fans may remember Mateja Kezman, an early Abramovich signing at Chelsea (£5m, 7 goals) who was quickly sold on to Atletico Madrid. Well, according to today's Sun (via BBC football gossip) the former Serbian international may give up football to become a monk. Apparently Kezman, who now plays for Turkish side Fenerbahce, spends "as much time as he can thinking of God and reveals that the only vice he has is tattoos. But he is becoming less obsessed with them, thanks to the good Lord's help."

Which is a perfectly valid reason to become a monk, obviously. Reading this reminded me of the story of former Argentina goalkeeper Carlos Roa (he was between the sticks when they beat us on penalties at France '98) who, believing the world would end on the Millennium, refused to discuss a new contract with his club Real Mallorca, instead retreating to an Argentine farm to await the Apocalypse. (That last link's well worth following for a piece on when religion gets in the way of football.)